I love to cook and teach vegan cooking. In March 2006, I was inspired by cooking blogs like Vegan Lunchbox to post my dinner plate pictures.
I do my family's cooking. Since I met my wife in June 2004, I'm proud that I've not repeated a dinner for her; we weren't together every night, but since fall 2005, we've shared most dinners. I think I can keep up the unique creations through spring 2006 - maybe beyond! (Still going in March'08!)

Monday, February 15, 2016

I haven't cooked with chickpeas in a while so this afternoon decided to soak a cup of dry chickpeas. Normally, they take 20-25m to pressure cook (with water enough to just cover) if they have been soaked overnight and 35-40m unsoaked. I had five hours of soak time, so tried a cook time of 30m. I often add frozen or fresh vegetables like kale after pressure cooking, but decided to try cooking some kale for the entire half hour to see how it would integrate with the dish.

Ingredients

1 cup dry chickpeas, rinsed and then soaked (ideally, overnight; I soaked for about 5 hours)

Enough water to just cover chickpeas

About a cup and a half of fingering potatoes (I used about a dozen Russian fingerlings)

2 cloves garlic, finely (1/8") chopped

1 1/2 cups chopped kale (I used frozen)

Vegan bouillon cube

1 cup corn kernels (I used frozen roasted corn kernels)

1/2 cup onion cut into 1/4" cubes

1t miso (I used chickpea miso)

1/2 t ground cumin

1/4 t turmeric

Process

I rinsed the chickpeas and then put them in my Instant Pot pressure cooker, along with the water, potatoes, garlic, kale, and bouillon cube, and cooked for 30m.

After the cooking was done, I waited a few minutes and gently released pressure, then added the corn and onion. Since the corn was frozen, I covered the pot (but didn't turn it back on) and let it sit for a few minutes, which nicely warmed things up, before serving. I sampled and liked the dish, but realized that miso would go with it, so added the miso (it would have been great mixed in and cooked), as well as the cumin and turmeric.

Results

Dinner was good. The potatoes and chickpeas were cooked just right, and the kale was fine, though I didn't see a significant taste difference from just adding it at the end of the cook time.

Ideas for the future

Ginger would go well with this, and miso would be good added before cooking. I'm pleased that fingerling potatoes can be cooked so easily with beans, and will have to make more dishes with intact small potatoes prepared in this way.